Slumber
by Pecore-Nere
Summary: I first knew him by his surname, which is Kaho. Oh, and I also knew his fiery hairstyle. And I also knew that he was that kid in my class that just sleeps too much.


**Disclaimer : Nothing new. Own nothing.**

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I first knew him as 'that kid who sleeps too much'. We called him that way amongst my cliché, simply because there was little to none we knew about him at all. All due to the fact that he rarely did anything in our class other than sleep during periods. Teachers who come and go would scold him from lesson to lesson, all met no result. Nothing had ever managed to truly awaken him from his almost non-stop slumber; other than the school bell, of course.

I rarely gave him any attention at all; apart from some short conversation regarding his slumber amongst my friends. I didn't even know his name, apart from his surname, which was 'Kaho'.

How I came to know his surname was nothing really interesting. Each and every period always began with the teacher barging into the classroom, greeting the noisy class, telling us to be quiet, and… yelling at that Kaho kid for being fast asleep. Usually they would scream his name a few times until he stirred from his bed – his desk, I mean – and then he would fall back asleep right away. In the end, nothing the teachers could do to get him to wake up. They'll just sigh after a few empty threats and finally began their lesson. Those early routines imprinted his name into my head easily, what with it occurring during the very first days of my freshman year.

Not many kids paid any attention to him, other than laugh at him when the teachers gave up their futile attempt to wake him up. But soon the routine became dull and nobody was interested to laugh anymore; neither do the teachers were interested to continue yelling at him. Thus, both my classmates and my teachers acted like he was never part of our class.

Albeit never thinking about him in particular, he became somewhat of an urban legend for me. The fact that he never said anything in class and always slumps off after he sat behind his desk means that I knew next to nothing about him. Not his personality; his name; not even his face.

Well, at least I knew his surname… and his hairstyle, which was like, these crazy mane-like spikes in an equally insane shade of red. Not auburn-red like normal people's hair, but a somewhat intense and unusual red shade. Fire truck red, lipstick red, strawberry red, blood red… you get the picture. How I came to notice his hair dated back to that first day of high school.

Since me and that Kaho kid went into the same class – class 10-D, that is – I noticed his hair the very first time I stepped into my classroom months ago, at the beginning of my freshman year. He was asleep on one of the desks, of course, so the only thing that caught my attention was his hair, all spikes and red. And the fact that my idiotic teacher placed me two seats behind him means that I got a pretty nice view of the back of his head. More often than not, his hair blocked my view because of its crazily messed up state, sticking up in awkward angles.

Sometimes, when I got too bored in class, I settled from doing exercises and listening to the teacher's babbling to musing about the said redhead. Like what I'm doing right now, actually.

The teacher was mumbling something really boring called quadratic equations – some really basic stuff on high school algebra. Unintentionally, my barely-there conscience drifted away – ensuring my downfall in the boring subject. I twiddled with my pen while (again) listing several possible shades of red paint one could use to paint a portrait of a certain redhead – and by some stupid coincidence it twirled itself out of my slack grip and tumbled onto the floor below.

Since I didn't really want to disturb my teacher in the middle of her almost religious lecture, I merely lifted my head slightly and tried to find out where my stray pen had gone. After nearly breaking my neck several times, I finally managed to find where the damn thing had gone to.

It turned out that it had rolled its way to the floor next to the seat of a certain fire truck-redhead several rows in front of my seat. I blinked my eyes in disbelief several times, unable to decide whether I was lucky, unlucky, or somewhere in between.

Just like an urban legend, no matter how much you are interested in one, it is the mysteries that triggers your curiosity, interest, and sometimes, fear. And regarding this Kaho kid… despite my mild interest in him, there was always this sly little fear of him that settled itself deep inside me.

I'd wanted to ask that Kaho kid to pick up my pen and give it back to me, but I didn't think that I'd be able to wake him up if all the teachers in HBH – Hollow Bastion High, that is – altogether had failed to do so. That fact aside, there was this fear thing that nagged me like hell. I mean, what if this Kaho kid turns out to be a nasty gangsta kid? What if he took my pen and crushes it into pieces? What if he took it for himself instead?

Silently, I prayed that the kid won't wake up – like he always did anyway.

And, by some crazy miracle from up above, he did. Wake up, that is.

I watched in some kind of a mixture of awe and horror as the blood red spikes stirred; signaling the awakening of its owner. And for the very first time in my months as a freshman, the said redhead finally awakens from his slumber. His spiked hair lifted up slowly from the surface of his desk, and he tilted his head slightly, as if wondering about something.

Then, he turned his head to the right and peered down his desk. All the way down to my pen, lying innocently on the floor.

All the way through this silent procession, my heartbeat was thundering. God knows why it did so, because all I did was simply watching a classmate. A classmate who happens to be fast asleep straight through school for the past semester. Which was like, already half a year or so, since it was spring already.

Now, back to the complicated matter of my fallen pen. I always labels all my stationary – girly, I know – so people can return them if one of it ever gets lost. Not that they'd be kind enough to not take it for themselves though. But it was worth a shot.

To my surprise, the Kaho kid actually bent over and picked my pen up. An action that was quite wrong to execute, since the teacher happened to notice him bending over and she froze through her lecture immediately.

"Kaho..?"

The Kaho kid turned his head to the front, body still bent over and all. "Yes?"

"Why aren't you asleep?" the teacher asked sardonically, quirking one of her eyebrows.

"You mean you want me to go back to sleep, Tifa-sensei?" the redhead gave a puzzled reply, finally settling back to his desk with my pen in his hand. Meanwhile, the whole class was watching the exchange with growing interest. Some of my classmates were staring at Kaho like he was some kind of a foreign species from the Tropics who had just barged into class.

Tifa-sensei looked slightly taken aback; it was quite clear that she hadn't thought that the redhead even knew her name at all. For all she knew, he was always fast asleep through her class. "Well, since you're awake now, I expect you to at least not fall asleep until the end of my lesson, Kaho," she smiled in a mildly mocking way.

"Yes, ma'am," the said student replied, also in a mocking tone. His voice wasn't raspy with sleep as I thought it'd be; in fact, it was a heavy, husky, deeply toned voice. The kind that usually belongs to movie stars that could bend you on your knees out of sheer inferiority.

While Tifa-sensei returned to the blackboard to continue her lecture, the redhead was looking at my pen. At least, that's what I thought he was doing, since his head was looking down at something in his hand. It occurred to me that although I had written my name on top of my pen, I reckon he wouldn't have known my name at all. Again, due to the fact that he was mostly asleep during school.

But to my absolute surprise, he turned his head back and stared straight at me.

"Roxas?" he mouthed my name, but I didn't notice at all. All I noticed was his face, which had been unknown to me for the past few months. His skin was a smooth pale alabaster, with two tear shaped tattoos marked under his eyes. What startled me the most were his eyes, which were almond-shaped and sported orbs a startling shade of green. It felt to me as if a cat was staring at me from several seats away.

Then, I got startled even more. It just dawned on me that the kid whose name I hadn't known for the past months actually knew _my _name. The fact made me feel so stupid as well as awed.

The said student began to cluck his tongue impatiently, which kicked me back into reality. Quickly, I nodded to him and stared back inquiringly.

"Is this yours?" he whispered inaudibly while waving my God forsaken pen.

I nodded at him, still awestruck that I fear that I might choke if I speak.

Surprisingly, he turned back to his desk, although I still caught a quirk on his lips as he turned. I thought that this is it – the jerk won't return my pen at all and I'd have to buy a new pen.

Meanwhile, Tifa-sensei had already begun scribbling several math problems for the class to work on for the time being. Sulkily, I opened my notebook and began scribbling. Several seats ahead, a certain redhead's head was bobbing up and down as he writes.

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The bell rang, jolting the entire class into an almost euphoric state. Tifa-sensei's algebra class was the last period of the day, and having algebra for two hours in the afternoon was almost a torture. By the time the last bell rang, the class had already gone into an almost manic state.

Sighing almost contently, I jammed my algebra notes into my crammed backpack. I'd already prepared to take a trip to a bookstore to buy a new pen, since out of the two pen I had one had already ran out of ink while the other was taken by a redhead that I'd rather not mention. A redhead who happened to be putting his notes rather energetically (when did he get them out? I thought he was asleep again!) into his bag.

Then, to both my surprise and disdain, the redhead made his way to my seat. I narrowed my eyes as he got closer. On close proximity, the redhead surprised me much more. First, I hadn't thought that he was _that _tall. Think of it this way; I was about 5'4" while the redhead was at _least_ 6'. I felt almost like a midget next to him. Sure, I was only fourteen, but if somebody else my age had that height and I didn't… well, let's just say there was enough injustice in the world without adding this one.

Oh, and second… I also hadn't expected that he was this… lanky. Add that to the height thing and the blood-red spiky hair, and you've got one hell of a creepy guy.

"Roxas, right?" he grinned in an almost Cheshire-cat-ish grin. Then, he wagged my pen in front of me. "Didn't forget about this, do you?"

"Yeah," I gulped, hating the fact that I need to tilt my head up just to get a clear look of his face. I cursed internally at my midget height and at the freakishly tall guy. Being that tall at the age of fourteen was just not fair.

Still wearing that increasingly creepy grin that made me wanna squirm, he handed my pen to me. "Here ya go, shorty," his voice oozed smugness from each syllables.

Frowning, I decided that I hate the guy thoroughly. _Just because you're taller than the rest of the class doesn't make me a midget, asshole_, I thought angrily.

I snatched the pen from him and grunted, "Thanks, uh… whatever your name is."

His grin grew even wider (God, is that even _possible_?) and he said smugly, "Axel. Axel Kaho. Got that memorized?"

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**A/N : This is my very first Akuroku fic, although I've dabbled on the fandom for a considerable amount of time. This one was made during my math class, actually lol. Inspired by one of my classmates who often falls asleep during class XD**

**I used Japanese grading system; whereas high school starts at tenth grade instead of ninth (my country uses that system too, so it's more familiar for me to write). And about the algebra material… I dunno if students there learn quadratic equations during their freshman year too or not… I merely chose the subject because I'm currently learning it in class (and sucking at it too).**

**Anyway, thanks if you read this fic, and huggle from meh if you review! :D**


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